Contributions of the Lock Box to Preschool Assessment

Abstract

The Goodman Lock Box is a measure of young children's ability to impose order upon an unfamiliar complex stimulus. By coding the spontaneous movements of preschoolers for 6 Y2 minutes as they explore 10 locked doors and assorted toys, scores are derived for three scales: Competence, Mental Organization, and Aimless Actions. The construct of mental organization gains support from studies which suggest that children's scores increase with age, that the test identifies deficits in mentally retarded, hyperactive, and autistic/atypical children apart from IQ differences, and that it contributes to the prediction of achievement in kindergarten children. Further support for the construct is found in recent research of cognitive psychologists who emphasize the importance of the executive function in learning and its absence in specific clinical populations.